ABOUT IVAN

Writer, art market analyst and pundit, campaigner, collector and blogger, Ivan Macquisten has spent 30 years as a journalist and business advisor and now runs ImacQ, his own business, media and public affairs consultancy.

As Editor of Antiques Trade Gazette for 15 years, he oversaw the entire news and features operation, while running campaigns and developing Internet coverage. He is a leading commentator and opinion former on the international art market and has niche specialist interests in art market business operations, risk and statistical analysis, as well as writing about South African art, Australia, Rock & Pop Memorabilia and other collecting fields. He is a regular columnist on the alternative asset potential of various aspects of the art market and has written for Spectator Business, Marks & Spencer Online Bank and Insight, the online investment magazine for wealth management specialist Brewin Dolphin.

Ivan has an additional background in PR, media and business/brand consultancy as well as public affairs lobbying and reputation management, and has worked extensively as a pundit and media spokesman, leading to numerous radio and TV appearances in addition to being quoted in many of the world’s major newspapers and magazines, from The Daily Telegraph and Times in the UK to the New York Times and Time Magazine in the US.

From 2012 to 2014, Ivan led a Westminster lobbying campaign in which he successfully negotiated the extension of the transitional period for businesses to adapt to stringent new copyright regulations from six months to five years.
The challenges included forming a new industry association to bring affected interests together, developing a detailed political and media strategy, fostering relationships with MPs, Ministers and government officials, writing Parliamentary Questions for the House of Commons and leading delegations for ministerial talks.

This was all done in successful opposition to a multi-national company employing one of the largest Whitehall lobbying firms. Ivan’s overview of the law change and Intellectual Property brief was used by the Prime Minister’s personal IP adviser as the core document for all his advice to Downing Street on the issue over a period of six months.